Time Flies
by GovernmentFiasco
Summary: A young Lucario has ever only known the troubles of the pokemon-only filled world, especially when in a near dystopian-like future where junk and sewage are an everyday occurrence. What happens when he is sent back in time for nearly 100 years- in the age of the modern world? His story is spoken through his own eyes and experiences.
1. Big Boy Tears

Hi! Welcome to the story that I named myself called 'Time Flies'. As the name suggests, this is a Time Travel fic. Though it's not in the same universe as Ash and the gang or with any humans at all! This is the realm of the super-powered pokemon who holds the whole world under their very thumbs! Or at least imaginary thumbs for those who don't have any...

But, anyways, this fic will have quite a bit of angst in the beginning and maybe some more in the future. I don't know if I'll be able to develop more chapters as I go in, but I can do my best to try at least!

Before we get into this I just want to mention that I got this idea from other Time Travel fics, I got nothing in particular since I forgot their names, at least I can't seem to remember any. It wasn't until a couple of songs that shot up in my spotify that mentioned 'Time Machines' that I got hyped up to make this chapter.

Anyways, I have something to admit at the end of this short chapter, so please stay tuned until then. Good Luck!

* * *

I didn't think this would happen at all!

*BEEP*

Why here? Why now?

*BEEP*

Just when I started to take everything seriously!

*BEEP*

Arceus, why is this happening to me!?

*BEEP*

What did I do to deserve this?

*BEEP*

I ran through the halls in a quick pace, the beeping of the electronics in the halls blasted my eardrums, there was no way this was happening, it must be a dream, it doesn't feel real!

I nearly tripped on a couple of laid out boxes, but I regain my tempo immediately while rushing past another flashing red light, the hallways seemed like it would never end!

It was as if I would never reach my destination, maybe it IS a dream, and I just need to wake up now...

Any time now, I would wake up in my bed, my mother would be trying her best to calm me down, saying that I only had a bad dream. She'd have a cup of water with her so I could cool down, like she always does when I had a bad dream when I was younger.

But I'm not that young anymore, so maybe she would instead call over a couple of my friends to cheer me up. Yeah. That would be the best, there's nothing more that I want right now than to- "Oof!"

Damn random boxes! Made me trip, who leaves boxes out in the- "Oh god."

This really isn't a dream!?

The atmosphere around me must've gotten me into a drunken-like state, I was always influenced by my surroundings.

"Dammit!" I punch the ground in agony and pain. I could only WISH this wasn't happening to me right now. If only I didn't leave them alone when I shouldn't have!

"I-I gotta.. f-find them." I'm running low on steam again, for goodness sakes! If only I just recharged my regulator earlier! Then maybe I would be with them right now! I want my final moments to be with the ones I love and care for...

"Arrgh!" I can't give up, I have to do it for them!

I lifted myself off the ground and began once again, but this time I started sprinting.

The TM room must be somewhere around here! It just had to be relocated to another place, huh? "B-2, B-3, B-4, aha! B-5!" Found it in the nick of time!

I thrust my arm out to the door handle and shifted it open, there they were!

"Guys! I'm here!" I rested on my knees while I catch my breath. The sirens outside were silenced when the door automatically closed behind me.

"Arthur! Baby! Are you all right?" I was crushed in a tight grip by a larger Lucario.

"Mom? I'm fine! How is everyone else doing? No one got hurt?" My mother loosened her grip and nodded, I finally take the chance to survey everything around me.

I saw O'Neill, Mr. Big, Sophia, and my mother of course.

"Hey, where did Liss go!?" I asked them. She was supposed to be here right now, but she's gone!

Mr. Big turned to me. "She said she was going to see her children and family, while they were still alive." He said it in a tone that bugged me. Wait, no, it wasn't the tone, but it was else that bugged me. Though that doesn't really matter right now.

"What were you guys talking about. Y'know, the thing that I had to leave for?" I knew it was a discussion between them, but they didn't give me any details.

O'Neill looked like he wanted to say something, but instead just held back and said nothing. What were they talking about? Was it about the meteorite? Woah, wait a minute!

"How much time do we have now?" I tried my best to stay calm since this situation calls for order, not chaos. Mr. Big's face hardened as I said that, but didn't say anything about it. I walked up to him slowly, he must be having a hard time with this, but weren't we all?

I repeated myself to him. "How long do we have?" He couldn't avoid me any longer as I said that.

"9 minutes now.." He looks so suspicious, he was always horrible at keeping secrets. I kept my eyes on him, then I moved my nose up and down. That would always get him to speak!

But he didn't say anything, yet he looks like he had something to say. He's such a good and bad liar at the same time!

Why is everyone keeping secrets from me? Wait, there's still someone else I can count on!

"Sophia!" My words made her flinch tremendously, she stepped back. Sophia looked like she didn't want anything to do with me, the expression she made hurt me. Just what is going on with everyone? Shouldn't we be close to each other right now? Why are they shutting down on me?

The only other one was my mother. "Let me guess, your not gonna tell me anything either?"

She started crying as if the final string in her heart was torn in half. My mother held me in a big embrace, as if it was the last time she'd see me. Not in the way that we'd both die however, it's weird but that's how it feels to me right now.

Now that I mention it.. This atmosphere of grief around me is not for us... but for me!?

But weren't we all going to die?

"W-what's going on? Why is this about me?" Everyone looked up at me with a varying of surprised looks for each.

I must've hit the nail right on the head.

I was then suddenly grabbed from behind, my arms were put into a lock. "M-mom!?"

"I'm sorry sweetie." Even my own mother!?

If I wasn't so drained of energy right now I would at least try to put up a fight. They were acting so weird after their meeting earlier. Just what did they discuss about!?

My mother forcibly moved me to the edge of the room where THAT machine was. Wait...

"B-but that machine hasn't been tested yet!" I struggled as much as I could manage, but I was overpowered easily, with my usual strength I would have jumped out of the way about 40 feet by now.

O'Neill opened the door of the huge machine as we neared. "N-not you too!?" His face was pained, but he went through with it.

Inside of the machine was a c.l.i.p, a Continuous light Inventory Pocket. A letter. And a red knitted-looking scarf.

I was gently tossed inside by my mother, but I fell down anyways due to exhaustion. The door closed immediately. I crawled to the now locked door and started banging on it.

"W-wait! Why am I the only one in here!? There's still room!"

I knew it. The reason why I'm the only one. It's because of the lack of power isn't it? Everyone left so the power in the foundation had been reduced significantly. They excluded me in the meeting so that I could turn the power on.. They used that chance to decide on who's gonna use THAT machine and probably live.

There's only enough power for a one time use...

I started tearing up. "Why!? Why me!? Why not someone else, like Sophia!?" There was no use to pounding away at the door, but I kept on going anyways.

*Bang*

"What's gonna happen to you guys!?" I knew what was going to happen...

*Bang*

"Why wasn't I in the meeting!?" I knew why I was also not in the meeting...

*Bang* *Bang*

"I don't want to do this!" I didn't want leave them behind...

*Bang* … *Bang*

I grew immensely tired, my regulator must have had enough and shut itself down. "DAMMIT!" Tears streaked down my face freely, I could care less about what happened to me.

I grew silent, I was sobbing to myself. Then I heard my mother softly crying on the other side of the door, my crying intensified.

"That letter in there is from all of us.. Read it when you get the chance." I stopped sobbing, but my tears couldn't stop. "I knitted that scarf as a birthday present, I did my best, but it's not very well made." Mother...

O'Neill's voice piped in too. "Look. Everyone thought it be best for you to go, even Sophia." I didn't even want to answer to him, I was too tired. "You have to be strong, for everyone, we would have no more regrets if we were to send you. We wouldn't have it any other way with the same circumstances." O'Neill...

Then Sophia pitched in too. "My dad was hesitant at first, but he gave in after talking we talked about how you were the best choice." Sophia...

"I would have rather settled with having my daughter go, but you were also like a son to me, the son I've never had. Now I know that YOU must be the one to live, to carry on our lives and memories with yourself like a torch. I'm not very good with good-byes, so, don't let yourself get down over us. You're a smart kid, but don't be overthinking about everything, alright?" Mr. Big...

Everyone believes in me but myself.

"Please don't leave me alone!" I didn't want to lose them! My only reason for living! The only reason that I want to live on for! The only ones that I'm willing to die for!

I can hear something being typed into the computer, then, it stopped. "It's done." Mr. Big stated.

A huge pause filled the air...

"I love you all." I didn't want to regret not saying it. If it's going to be like this then I at least want to have a say in our good-byes.

"And we all love you too, Arthur."

My adrenaline wore off and I almost instantly went into a deep sleep...

* * *

Well, here it is. My first chapter in. Not really though, I have another chapter that was supposed to go first, but I noticed that it gave a lot of backstory, perhaps a little too much for a first chapter. So I decided to write an 'actiony' sort of first chapter so you guys wouldn't get bored.

Trust me, this sucker is 5,000 plus words long. I wanted to try to at least pull y'all in before I dump some info on ya! There are some things that wasn't explained in this chapter, but don't worry! It will come sooner or later, it might not even come until the 5th chapter or 7th chapter, who knows? Suspension knows..

Also if you were wondering, this fic will be all first person from now until the death of it. I had tried writing it the way it is with third person, but I quickly found it to be a pain for me, it was hard to make an impact that I was okay with.

Anyways, until we meet again. 1802 words w/o AN's


	2. Arc Art Fantasy

Yo! Here is the second chapter. As I said before, this chapter takes place before the emergency and stuff. It's technically the first chapter, but you guys know that! Right?

So! I don't really have much to say, but I just want to mention that my story actually has a couple of followers right now. It's not much, sure, but it makes me glad that some are interested in this story. Maybe you guys have hopes for this to become a decent story? No reviews so far telling me so, but I won't let that affect my determination. So I'll do my best to deliver!

And so, good luck.

* * *

There's not that many who would go outside in times like this. Maybe it's because everyone's so busy this time of year? Or maybe it's because you'd become a skeleton by the time you go for a jog around the block a couple of times. I hate all of this soiled gunk water and trash and dirty air, I really do. Everywhere I look there are colors of sickly green or dead hazard yellow. The planet is pretty much in an irreversible state of waste.

I shook myself from my thoughts, there is no time for any mistakes right now. I gently slapped my face to hype myself up, then I got back to work.

I hover my upper body across the testing counter and grabbed a clear glass beaker, it had a red and green-yellow substance inside. The colors in the beaker were flashing, almost as if they didn't want to go together. This was clearly not supposed to happen.

I carefully set the beaker into a complex machine over to the corner of the counter and pressed the appropriate buttons on the machine and waited for the machine to finish. The tubes around the machine began to fill with a bit of the green-yellow colored liquids, just looking at it work sets my mind at ease. I sighed nostalgically in the process. One of my first success's at working on machines started with this liquid spreading mech.

When the loading bar on the screen was close to finishing, my body suddenly gained an adrenaline rush. I hear a pop from the machine signaling that the process is done.

I rush to hold onto the glass, but I was also careful enough so I don't knock it over. I immediately inspected the work. My heart slowed down instantly as I begin to realize its reality.

"But that takes up too much of the formula!"

Disheartened, I picked up a pen to write about my discovery in a notebook right beside me, I wrote down:

Type B-302's Effects On Acid Rain

Identify- Arthur Verne

ID no- 9034199

Species- Lucario

Date performance time- March 3, 2111 - March 7, 2111

Test results(success/failure)- failure

I stopped writing to stare at that word, it taunts me. This was my 49th attempt and I still couldn't find anything... I was slightly depressed of course.

A sigh loosed out of my mouth. There seemed to be no solution to the crisis. Not only is there very little options but time is of the essence for me right now, I told everyone I can do it by myself, I can, but..

"Arrrgh!" I grunt out in dissatisfaction, I went on to rip out the page in my rage. "Why can't I solve this!?" I crumpled up the paper in my paws and flung it over my shoulder, it fell into the trash can behind me along with the other 48 pages. I shouldn't be doing that, but I didn't really care at the moment.

The door to the room opened up after the instance, it revealed to be my quadruped Ivysaur assistant named Liss, she helps me with keeping up with my schedule. Sometimes she gives me some comforting words to cheer me up at times, like right now.

"Hey now, this is only your 49th attempt at this, it takes many others 100 or maybe even 1,000 times to get it right." Her insight did calm me down a bit, but I still felt like I accomplished virtually nothing so far..

I rested my head down on the counter, not even daring to face the Ivysaur. "But what if I don't get 1,000 shots at this? Or maybe even a 50th shot for that matter." I muttered the last sentence mostly to myself, but Liss must've heard it.

"You'll never know unless you try." Liss really is a patient pokemon.

She wasn't my assistant for very long, but Liss talks to me like how a mother would to her child. Well, she IS around 15 years older than me. In fact, she almost sounds like my own mother with the words she picks. Hmm... It must be the same thing about almost all mothers I guess.

I could hear her walking towards me. An unfastening sound reverberated in my ears, must've been from her vines coming out of her bulb. Next I listened to the sounds of paper most likely unscrambling, Liss was reading quietly. "Even the B-302 formula didn't work?" I groaned out some words incoherently in my response, not at all focusing my speech. "Well now, that really limits some options for us."

Hearing it from my own assistant made it feel much more hopeless, I groan out some more in a sort of passive frustrated attitude. Liss must have caught on to what she said to me. "Anyways! Isn't it your birthday today? Why don't you catch a break and relax with your family for a while? I can clean up in here for you."

There is nothing more that I want to do right now than to make progress in my work, so I told her that I needed to continue. She didn't like the idea one bit. "Why do you need to work like this so much? You're not even a registered scientist, yet you're working on an advanced, no, at a nearly impossible level! Arthur you're also a teenager, just turning 18, there's no need for you to waste your time in a cramped room like this."

My insides flared up as she finished her sentence. Waste? Impossible? No. Not me! All I need is time, then there will be no waste, then, I would prove that it really is possible to do such a thing! You can't get anything done with an attitude like that!

I slammed my fist on the countertop, scaring the wits out of Liss. "Get. Out." I tell her, making sure that she hears every word that came out of my mouth. Liss took a step forward but I cut her off. "Now." She stopped and frowned, then she turned around and opened the door with her vine. She said goodbye to me as she shut the door behind herself.

I don't really remember standing up, I probably did so when I slammed my fist, but I can't really remember that I did..

I sat back down on the chair to cool myself off. My temper can really take over sometimes, though it doesn't happen as frequently anymore, it was really bad when I was a child. I remember that I used to get in so much trouble for taking things too far when I got angry, maybe that's why I don't have as much friends right now...

It was then when I realized that I shouldn't have said that, I was definitely in the wrong. She just wanted to do something nice for me, yet I turned her down in the worst way possible. I should apologize to her the next time I see her..

Great. Now I feel like a jerk AND a hypocrite..

Arceus I feel so stressed out! Too many things are happening at once. But she IS right about me working so much, I accept jobs that are too much for me to handle, but that's what I do for a living. It's all so that my 'gift' won't go to waste, my intelligence.

My mind apparently works 'like clockwork' as my old instructor used to say, he was a genius who excelled in environmental science and geology, but there was one thing about him that got him fired from the university he worked at, it was because he was a Muk.

You see.. Poison types are not very well liked in this day and age, especially at around 100 years ago when they were all blamed for the nasty weather. Scientists from all over brought up as much evidence as they can to prove that the poison types are responsible so that the rest of society doesn't learn of the harsh truth.

Big companies were probably paying them so they could keep manufacturing their hazardous products.

Though there was a ragtag team of scientists who called themselves The Apotheosis Crew who had helped defend the poison types using their own, pretty much brilliant, scientific methods. But they failed of course. You can't stand up to ignorant fools with blind eyes, it's suicide really.

But the information the 'normal' scientists brought up was not very reliable because of their vague sources, so it literally ended up with pokemon picking sides in the matter based on beliefs. Many would go by their own intuitions based on experience while others would just jump on the bandwagon saying 'it just makes sense because they are literally poison' and other similarly stupid stuff. It makes me sick to think that poison types are taking the blame for our unfortunate circumstance.

Though apparently, they kicked him out because some students were triggered by his presence, that he would 'taint' them. But it's all bull, I liked that teacher. I personally think that he was the better and most knowledgeable instructors that ever taught in that university. Now he's jobless, just like all the other poor poison types.

I sighed my lungs out. I'm probably just overthinking about everything. It's just making my stress more unbearable than it already is. My day isn't even over for me yet, I still have to deal with other issues I have about work. It's nothing that big, but it's something that I don't want to go through with right now.

I got up and left the room to walk around, I don't really care about the mess I left behind. It's because I'm the only one who uses that room, so I thought it would be okay for now.

I leisurely walked through another hallway. Then I began to think about a couple of things, at least about my past.

This facility is what you would call an environment protection committee, though it's not at all for protection anymore at this point and the 'committee' is now made up of all the genius scientists in Kanto. It makes this building a huge playground for the young or old aspirers of the future.

Just a fun fact, the whole place can detect life signatures, that way it can average the amount of power it uses overall depending on how much pokemon are in the building. This saves a lot of power over time, now that's the environment committee for you! Anyways.

This place is my home, job, and school all in one and I couldn't possibly ask for more than that! It was only by chance that I had the opportunity to live at such a place, that chance being my childhood friend and current crush, Sophia.

She's a beautiful four legged creature with a stunning personality and is one heck of an Espeon. It wasn't love at first sight though, it only started out at chance, a sort of life-changing view-shifting moment that I treasure in my heart.

It was when I was 5 years old, I was still a little riolu at the time. I was freezing out in the dry air with my mother wrapping her arms around me to cover as much surface area as she could to keep heat in, the air itself was unpleasant and was pretty painful if I suck in too much of it. That was how my mother and I spent our nights, with nowhere to go and no place to call home.

But one day it all changed for the both of us.

I remember that a warm blanket covered us out of nowhere, it made me cry out thinking it was a kidnapping, but I was instantly calmed down by a very young voice. "Don't worry! I only want to help!" Sophia was an Eevee at the time.

After that we would play together a lot, at least where it was not dangerous, like this very institute for instance. That was when I also met her father, aka Mr. Big, who happened to be the owner of this gigantic building. It was only soon after our meeting that Mr. Big hired a teacher just for me, maybe because I was her only friend. Though I think the main reason was that I was also not very well informed of many things about the world around me, I couldn't tell from what was right or what was wrong.

They thought I had no brains, at least until we began lessons. I would remember everything to the smallest detail and I used that to my advantage.

I was a bright student, so much so that I exceeded expectations of all of the instructors around me quite quickly. They had me solve math equations, write tests, and complete riddles that were for high school students and beyond. It wasn't long until I've garnered the attention of many high-grade scientists and scholars who wanted to obtain the rights to school me in many different subjects-

*Bump*

"Gahh!" *Thud*

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I thought you would have caught me, oops!" That voice sounded familiar, could it be?

I opened my eyes to find a gorgeous pair of eyes staring right at me, it was Sophia! "It's not your fault, I wasn't paying attention to anything at all." She was sprawled out over top of me while giving me a look of concern.

She then grew a large smile on her face. "It's no ones fault then." And there we have it, the famous Sophia compromise.

We were still knocked over on the ground with her on top of me. She wasn't all that heavy, but she didn't seem to want to move off of me.

Instead we just stayed there for a bit, I was lost in her eyes for a second, she was just so enchanting that I could feel my heart pounding away at my chest.

"Umm. Aren't you gonna say anything? I think it's been 2 minutes so far. Haha!" Her voice shook me a bit, she hopped off and I got up quickly.

I didn't realize I was looking at her for 2 whole minutes, I swear I only peaked into her eyes for a second. "I-I was just thinking about something important!" I blurt out to her, then I grounded myself. "y'know, about work and other things."

Sophia got into a fit of giggles and then replied to me. "You've been doing that for a while now haven't you?" I guess that was true, at least recently anyways.

Now that I think about it I've never really told her about the feelings I hold for her. I like her not because she saved my life, but I fell for her own... everything I guess? It's a bit hard explaining about the one I love, it's a bit embarrassing too.

The air's a bit awkward around us, at least for me. "I was thinking about what I was gonna get you for your birthday recently.." Not for Sophia of course, nothing is awkward for her.

"But I finally decided on one. It's not here with me right now, so follow me please!" Sophia took off down the hall giving me no time to think or say anything about it.

I ended up catching up to her in a rush. "Hey, you don't have to get me a present. Really. You don't have to trouble yourself over something like that." We settled to a natural walking speed.

"I'm not troubling myself at all! And besides, I give you a present every year because I want to, not because I have to."

She can be very stubborn and unrelenting at times..

I followed her all the way to a room on the opposite side of the foundation, she opened the door to a dark room and disappeared into the shadows. It was only after I took one step into the room the lights turned on.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

There was decorations and balloons and everything, including a big happy birthday stringed lettering along with my name. Everyone I knew was there, my mother, Mr. Big, Liss, Sophia and- "Mr. O'Neil?!" I could recognize that professor anywhere, y'know, the Muk that used to teach me!

"Well howdy Arthur! Hahahah!" Yep, his jolly laugh is a dead giveaway. His body is in an anti-Muk-waste hover vehicle, aka the aMwhv, though we usually shorten it to HV. It was designed so he could travel around places without leaving a gunk trail due to his species.

I didn't think I would ever see him again, I feel so relieved to see him doing well. "H-how are you here? I-I m-mean.. What are you doing here?" I couldn't help but stumble my words with surprise.

He wore a face of glee in response. "Why, to attend your birthday of course! What else would I be doing here?" He sounded as if it was an obvious thing.

I was struck speechless, I don't really know what to say about this... but I am happy nonetheless!

"Didn't you look up to him in your school days?" I turn my head to look at Mr. Big, he was an Umbreon, a pretty big Umbreon at that. It also caught me off guard when I first met him, I called him the 'Giant God' for a whole year in my days of youth.

"Was it you who brought him here!?" I had to know. It would take a lot of power to get him in here. What, with all the commotion some pokemon cause just by looking at a poison type! It would be a tough thing to deal with, even if you were to sneak him in here.

He grew a small and proud smile. "I have my connections." His voice was silky and smooth with a lot of power behind his words that demanded authority, he was another 'mon I look up to. Though he doesn't know that.

My mother had on the biggest smile she ever wore to date. "You should see the look on your face! It's priceless!" Her words were filled with much delight, so much so that it also made me smile widely, my mom was definitely my soft spot.

I walked up to my mother and gave her my warmest hug, she used to be the only one I had in my life, but that has been in the past. Right now I have an even bigger family, with everyone here!

I then notice Liss standing by a table with what looks to be a bowl of fruit punch, she was staring at the scene before her with a soft smile. Something tugged at my heart strings, was it regret? I decided to walk up to her to apologize.

"Hey, uh, I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier." Liss had on a look of concern, then she waved her nose up and down. Great. "...I just didn't want to get in anyone's way. Y'know, with the whole birthday thing. I thought everyone would be busy, especially around this time of year with the 'survey' thing going on."

O'Neill erupted with a booming laughter. "WAHAHAHAH! THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS BUSY HERE WAS YOU! HAHAHAH!" It wasn't an insulting laughter but a reassuring laughter, at least to O'Neill's standards.

"...Wait. Really?"

Mr. Big looked towards me guiltily. "Well, it's true that we have the 'survey' coming up, but.. There seems to be less pokemon coming in recently so we weren't that busy." He started chuckling nervously. "The only department unaffected by this just so happened to be yours, the research dept. Everyone else was sent home."

That could explain why I didn't run into anybody earlier, this has never happened to the foundation before, I didn't think it was possible given it's famous image. Weird.

Sophia puffed her cheeks. "Now's not the time to be talking about work. It's party time!"

We all began laughing at the self-willed Sophia, it feels great that we are all here. I made my way to the best part of the party, the food.

About a half an hour during the party I found myself talking with Profes- I mean Mr. O'Neill about the things we would used to talk about, algorithms and other high-tech stuff only we would know. But then we moved into our personal lives along the way.

"Anyways, what about that cute Espeon you've been eyeing up a while ago huh? Are ya guys goin' out?" That certainly made me sit straight up.

"N-no, it's nothing like that." I hushed to him with a low voice to keep quiet.

I swear that for a split second he kind of looked at me like he had found a weakness, was it my imagination? "Well then, how about we go talk to her and have you confess already? It's boring when nothing happens."

W-wait, what?

"W-wait, wha-"

But his voice overpowered mine hardcore. "Oi! Psychic type over there! Yeah you! C'mere!" He waved Sophia over from across the room, meanwhile I was worrying about what the former professor has in mind.

"Hi! What's up?" Her voice chirped in my ears causing me to involuntarily shiver.

O'Neill gave a side glance to me to see how I was doing, I shot him an irritated glare that says 'don't you dare', O'Neill just smiled it off. "We were wondering if you would be interested in partaking in a little experiment."

Experiment? I inspected him with confusion.

"Experiment?" Sophia seemed very interested in what the poison type had to say apparently.

"Yes, I should also tell you that this is a very important 'experiment', Arthur will tell you the details. C'mon now Arthur! Tell her the summary!" He pushed my back forward almost forcing me to crash into Sophia, O'Neill kept me there with his arm so I couldn't move away from her. I also couldn't take my mind off of the way he said 'experiment'.

Sophia didn't even seem to mind the distance between us and was instead focused on what I was 'trying' to say. C'mon brain, think! Think!

Oh no, I can't really come up with anything at all! "W-what?"

"Oh, and while you're busy dealing with that, I've got something else to do with the other adults." O'Neill stated this as he started hovering forward.

He's trying to sneak his way out of here isn't he!?

"But wasn't it you who wanted to have Sophia in this experiment? Why don't you help me 'explain' it to her since it's really advanced?" I put emphasis on the word 'explain' to give him a nice jab or two for style points. O'Neill stopped his slyly progress and turned to me.

"You're a smart kid, I'm sure you can explain it 'yourself' no matter who it is." Wow, he's really trying to pick a fight with me isn't he? That emphasis on 'yourself' was practically a critical hit!

"But not even I know what kind of experiment it is, you're the one who 'developed' it in the first place."

Hah, take that!

"I'm sure that once you 'start', you can make do with the rest of the work."

I have to get it through to his head that I won't do this! "There is no 'I' in team, 'won't' you help me 'do it'?"

I won't do it.

"Oh that won't 'make' do, she's 'your' friend, I'm sure she would be better off if you were to 'move' her into the criteria instead of me."

Make your move.

"My answer is 'no', I can't teach in a 'way' that will satisfy her, I'm not very good at it."

No way.

"I'm pretty sure 'you have' enough experience 'to' guide someone else your age."

You have to.

"'Why' is this so important?"

Why?

"It's 'Because', I bet 'you' would 'love' to be able to teach 'her', 'am I right?'"

Because you love her, am I right?

"…"

"Well! That settles that! Now I've got myself some adults I need to 'inform'!" His voice was so giddy and victorious that I think I began to garner dark thoughts about the old professor.

"W-wait! I'm not done yet!" Arrgh, I swear he won't get away with this!

"So? What's this experiment you guys were talking about?" I flinched at her words, I was so not ready for this.

"Ah, um. It's about.." Think, dammit! Think! "I've got a..."

She leaned in closer to me. "A- what?"

Oh god she is so close! "I've got a.."

If I don't tell her this soon, will I regret it? I don't want anything to take her away from me, no, I will do this, even if I have to choke the words out!

"Hey, listen! I think I'm, well.." I paused for a moment to see her reaction, I didn't say it yet, but I thought I would get away with this. I was wrong though.

I've gotta go through with this! There might not be another perfect opportunity with a mood like this! Take charge!

"Sophia, I love y-" "It's time for cake!" My mother's voice sounded through the whole room, perhaps a bit louder than necessary. My heart is racing so quick that I forgot we were celebrating my birthday right now.

Of course I was cut off mid sentence...

Sophia turned her attention back at me again. "sorry, can you finish that? You love y-?"

I can't take this kind of pressure! It's no good for my heart! "What I meant to say was that I love.. Yelnats!" Her expression changed to match her perplexity.

"W-well, Yelnats backwards is actually Stanley. Haha, get it? That was the experiment we were talking about.. Heh." Oh gosh this is a mess! It was so perfect, but I can't say it NOW! The moments ruined and I can't take it anymore!

"Let's go have some cake shall we?" I rushed off to the table and plopped down right in front of the cake that was stationed there. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief, my chest seemed like it was about to burst.

Everyone eventually gathered together to form a circle around the table, some got out cameras and the others prepped themselves for their singing voices, then, they began without cue.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky-"

I remember a long while ago during my childhood that I used to look up at the sky and see tiny little specks of lights. They were a complete mystery to me until my mother sang this song, this song was arguably my favorite back then, even now it's still my most anticipated melody.

There was a time when my mother would start singing the normal birthday song, but I didn't want none of that, no, I wanted her to sing me THAT song, the song that got me looking at the sky and wishing that I would be able to see them as clearly as that night. My mother said that the song was magical, and as such, I believed her.

The next year my mother would try to sing 'Happy Birthday' to me, I wouldn't even listen to what she said until she started singing THAT song. Every year after that she has been using this song instead, perhaps it was because of this that I wanted to make my dreams come true.

To be able to see the stars again, with everyone...

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

How I wonder what you are.

How I wonder what you are..."

My mother crept up behind me and rested her paw on my shoulder. "Now, make a wish and blow out the candles, sweetie."

My anticipation for the future that I'M gonna create grew, I feel like I can accomplish it now. Hell, I feel like I can accomplish anything with everyone by my side! I just feel so grateful for everything, Mother, Mr. Big, Liss, O'Neill, Sophia!

I'm glad that I'm alive, even if the world is full of garbage and hatred. MY world however, is filled with everyone here...

I made a big wound up and puffed out a quick breath, blowing out all the candles easily.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

*WARNING* *INCOMING THREAT DETECTED*

*THE OBJECT IS IDENTIFIED AS A METEORITE*

Everyone was quickly on their toes, they knew along with me that this was not a false alarm, there would be no point for a test alarm if there were virtually no one here. And the owner of the place wouldn't set a false alarm here, especially not right now.

Mr. Big immediately took action. "Computer! Unload access point!"

A part of the wall protruded a paper-thin computer that instantly appeared in front of Mr. Big. "What!?" He sounded genuinely surprised, a rare trait for him indeed, just what was it?

Damn it, I need to know. "What is it?"

Mr. Big's face brought on a deadly vibe. "I-it's the meteorite."

"What about it?"

"…"

"Just say it dammit!" I don't have the patience for this right now!

"The density of the meteorite will easily puncture the stratopause and will inevitably rush through the stratosphere, which will then hit the calculated spot on earth." And just like that he dropped the news on us.

I knew there was more to it than that. "Don't spare us any words, just tell us the rest, I can tell it in your voice that there's more." I didn't want to pressure him, but we need answers, we're not children who need to be shielded anymore.

His mood turned a deep somber. "It's big enough to wipe everything off the face of the earth, and..."

It was already bad news, but this was worse. That and he still didn't mention something! "Where is it gonna land!? We can probably hide in an underground shelter and wait it out! If we can't do that then we could just dig one ourselves!" I stopped myself before I grew hysterical.

Why is he still looking like that!? Unless... the meteorite...

No.

"…"

No no no.

"…"

Oh no no no!

His head shifted lower. "Right on top of this place, our home..."

* * *

Ok! I established a somewhat level ground for me to work on. I will pretty much be finished the next chapter by the time I'll post this one though, it may not be as big as this one here, but I'll do my best to make up for that.

Oh well, until we meet again. 5497 words w/o AN's

\/ You may skip this if you want to, it's not very important anyways. \/

You may or may not have noticed that the chapter names are pretty weird and may make no sense, but I made it like that so I could give the chapters more depth and color than a normal chapter name like, 'The Beginning' or, 'The Start of A New Journey'. The words will have their own meaning apart from each other, but will have a more defined outcome when mixed. What I'm saying is that the title may give away what the chapter is about if you look at it right, but in a different way if you catch my drift. If not then don't stress yourself over it.

When you think 'Big Boy', you'd probably think about it's ironic name belonging to a grown up. When you think 'Tears', you'd most likely think that something sad had occurred to make it that way. Combine them all and you'd get something like, 'Why would a big boy, namely an older folk, cry?'. It's a bit hard describing something so little, you're probably thinking that I'm overthinking about this whole thing. Maybe you're right? Heh.


	3. Toy Toil River

Hi! Welcome back. Okay, this chapter happens as a result of the first chapter, in case any of you get confused. It's all because of my shameless chapter inconsistency of course! Have no fear though, the chapters happen one after the other from now on. I promise!

This chapter consists of angst of course. Who wouldn't be sad after losing your entire family and friends? I would, but not in the way Arthur does though if that makes sense. Losing a dearly loved and close family member must be painful... I wouldn't know. That's why I had difficulty writing this chapter. If you have lost a family member that you loved dearly and read this chapter, then, I'm sorry if it's not realistic or anything. And I'm also sorry for your loss of course...

Anyways, good luck.

* * *

"Arrghhh.." I feel so drowsy. Why did waking up have to be so hard?

"Oooh maaan." My back hurts a bit, I must've slept on it wrong. I sat up straight and twisted my upper body and cracked my spine.

There, no more pain.

I had the worst dream last night. I only remember parts of it, but I knew it was probably the worst nightmare I've had all my life! I stood up to stretch.

"Why is it pitch black in here? Hey Liss! Are you there? Can you turn on the light for me please?" Why is my room the only one without voice recognition? I requested a computerless room sure, but something like that can be helpful in times like this.

The lights didn't turn on.

"Well, I guess I gotta turn them on myself." I walked forward a step and ran into something. "Ouch!" It felt like it was something metallic. "I thought I told them I couldn't take in any more inventions, my room's cramped as it is!"

It happens, but, I keep forgetting that I'm a Lucario, a species who have an affinity with seeing in the dark, at least with using aura anyways. I focused my energy on sensing my surroundings without using my eyes. I looked around and I could see that I'm surrounded by walls.

I couldn't tell if they were real or not though. Is my regulator acting up again? Or is somebody playing a dirty trick on me?

I was never on good terms with some of the other co-workers, they're probably in on this...

"Okay guys! You've had your fun, you've got me! Now can you please stop this? I don't need this kind of thing so early in the morning."

My voice echoed through the space, but I could not detect anyone's presence anywhere. Is this a new invention of theirs? If so, it's working.

"Alright! You're experiment is a success! You've got me annoyed!"

Still no answer from anyone so far. You'd think they would be all in my face by now...

"I'm going to destroy this machine if you don't stop this right now! I'm serious!"

"…"

"Alright! I warned you guys! Don't blame me when your award winning 'Arthur irritating machine' gets destroyed!"

I put my focus into my force palm attack straight ahead of me and unleashed it. It packed quite a wallop and destroyed a part of the wall.

"See? I told you I'd-" "Ack!"

Light suddenly flashed into my eyes, blinding my dark-adjusted pupils. I took a step back to deal with the sudden intrusion of white. I couldn't open them for quite a long time!

I opened my eyes after a while to see what had temporarily blinded me. "Okay you guys, don't go testing your flashlights.. On.. Me..." What is this?

I peered forward and saw... a tree? No, a bunch of trees!? And they are all green! Green trees! Not only trees, but the grass too!

"Woah! You guys finally did it! You made the trees and grass green again!"

I couldn't fully believe it, I've never seen green trees before in my life! Well, I saw them in textbooks when they had pictures, but this is different, it's real! I knew we'd find a use for this growing room!

"Wow..."

I took a step forward, uncovered many more trees that went to surround machine I was in. It was quite a view for sore eyes, mine in particular. Everything's so bright and cheerful looking, it's quite gorgeous!

"Did you guys do this so I could be surprised? Well, it worked! Hahah!" I looked around the present area for them, but I didn't see them anywhere in sight.

"They're probably off somewhere celebrating the success. Good for them!"

I didn't know they were working on something like this!

I've got to thank them later on, this marks off one of the many things I wanted to see in my life. If we keep going the way we are now, then maybe everywhere else could end up like this!

Maybe even the poison clouds can be cleared!

I walked up to a branch and started feeling up the leaves, they felt so good! I didn't know they had this kind of beauty! I moved closer to the tree and hugged it's trunk. "It's so rough.. I love it!"

It was then when I noticed something strange about the air. "It's not the air purifier machine that's doing this?" I inhaled as much of the air as I could, then I exhaled it.

This air is so smooth! Wait. Is it the trees doing this? I know about how trees actually use a trait called 'Photosynthesis', it's how they get carbon dioxide and convert it into oxygen. I know a lot more than that obviously, it would just take too long to describe it.

And I want to instead just experience this nice and calming aura around me.

"Wow, you guys sure did your research! It must've been hard to get this organism to duplicate out like this."

Oh who am I kidding, these guys are the best of the best! I should borrow some of the practice notes they most likely have written down.

I looked back at the machine I came out of, it was not the best place to be asleep in, but it was also the best way to break the news to me!

I walked back to the machine.

Why does it look, familiar?

I took a step inside to see if there was any note or something for me, there's no way they would have left me without telling me something.

"Aha! A letter!" I quickly opened it carefully and out came four pieces of paper, all were different colors.

Well, they ALL didn't have to write to me, just one is enoug-

…

… … …

… What?

What is this?

What does it mean when it says 'final good-bye'?

*Snap*

My memories came flooding back to me, the meteorite, the environment committee, the certain doom, my famil- MY FAMILY!

My heart stopped.

I can hear a bunch off 'And we all love you too, Arthur' that desparately infected my mind like a wasps nest.

I fell to my knees, my mind was blank. Then. It came rushing again.

"You'll never know unles-"

"Don't worry! I only want to-"

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I thought you would have-"

"-what I was gonna get you for your birthday recently.."

"Well howdy Arth-"

"Didn't you look up to him in your school d-"

"You should see the look on your face! It's-"

"-I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier."

"THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS BUSY HERE WAS YOU!"

"It's party time!"

"-that cute Espeon you've been ey-"

"Sophia, I love y-"

"Twinkle, twinkle-"

"I-it's the meteorite."

"Right on top of this place, our home..."

"Why is this about me?"

"B-but that machine hasn't been tested yet!"

"Why!? Why me!?"

"That letter in there is from all of us.."

"Everyone thought it be best for you to go, even Sophia.'

"My dad was hesitant at first-"

"-but you were also like a son to me-"

"Please don't leave me alone!"

"And we all love you too, Arthur."

"RAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" I held my head as tight as I can. The pictures and noises in my head was going too fast!

How did it end like this? Why wasn't it a dream!? It would have been better if it was! Better than this!

Why didn't I do anything!? I could've stopped them! I don't want to be the only one alive! It's torture! There's nothing I can do now! If only I wasn't so weak! I could've, I could've...

Ah.

My regulator went off again..

Too much stress I suppose..

I'm feeling so sleepy, I should take a nap...

I was surrounded by pure whiteness, am I, floating through the air? I looked around and I could not see anything recognizable. I looked downwards and couldn't see the floor, or anything else for that matter.

"I-is this a dream?"

My voice echoed through the white abyss, I couldn't feel anything, I didn't know where I was.

Then I seen it.. Over in the distance.. Is that? Mother?

As she got closer her form was getting clearer, she eventually got close enough so that I could see the steady and peaceful breathing of her chest. "M-mom?" She was translucent-looking.

She didn't reply, or even gave me any recognition for what I just said. Instead, she turned her head over behind her in a life-like motion. I peered around her to see what she was so interested in.

E-everyone? O'Neill, Mr. Big, and Sophia? W-what's going on?

They eventually met up with us in this floating space, then they began to surround me with happy faces. Their mouths started moving, it was as if they were having a conversation among themselves around me. They didn't make any sound though.

They all eventually took turns talking to me, there was still no sound so I didn't know what they were talking about. It made me nervous and sad that I couldn't communicate with them, but they seemed happy with me nonetheless. It was like they didn't care that I said anything or not, they looked like they were just happy to be with me...

I looked down sadly, this caused them to look at me with pity. My mother put her paw on my shoulder. This developed into a chain reaction with the rest of them, they eventually got closer to me, as if they all wanted to cheer me up. I smile, their reactions made me smile wider and wider until I tried to hug them.

They faded immediately upon contact.

What? Why did they go? Why did they leave me again? Did I do something? If it was something I did, then I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done what I did. Just come back. Please come back to me! Please? Please! I'm sorry!

The color around me turned into a depressing purple and black background. I was only fixated on my hands however. What did I do to them with these hands?

Then my hands began fading away into dust. "Wha-" It slowly made its way to my arms. "No- wait!" My legs began to fade as well. "D-don't!" My torso turned dust from bottom until my neck.

"I don't want to.."

My face deteriorated very slowly compared to my body parts, it took my mouth, my nose, my ears, all until my right eye was the only thing left. My other eye was gone, I could only see through this one eye. I couldn't breath because my mouth was gone! I start to panic even more!

I'm going to die aren't I?

All alone.. I abandoned my family.. It's my fault they're gone..

Bit by bit my final eye turned to dust. The dust then fell infinitely in this space alongside all the rest of my body pieces. Nothing was left of me, but maybe it's for the best. There was no way in hell I would be able to face my family again in heaven, I was the one who caused their sorrow after all. Why would they want ME with them?

It's better if I fall in here forever... while they rest up there in heaven... At least they're happy...

"Wake u-"

Huh?

"…"

I guess it was just my imagination. No one would want to bring me back...

"Wake up!"

What?

"Why don't we use 'that'"

What is 'that'? Who are you?

"Ah! That's a good idea!"

Leave me alone! I don't want to deal with anything anymore! I'm done!

"Now. Where is it?"

Just leave! Can't you see that I'm suffering? Why can't you see that!?

"Ahh! Here it is!"

Now you're just being cruel...

"KERSPLOOSH!"

W-aaaaahhhh!

"Aaaaaaaaah!" I sat myself up in a hurry, I was soaked to the bone! Was I sleeping on this bed before?

"Oh! He's awake!"

"I told'ya it would work."

"No ya didn't!"

"I did too!"

"Na-a!"

"Yeah-a!"

"Calm down kids! Your gonna disturb our guest like that."

Wha?

I wiped away the water that was in my eyes, it was hard to focus on anything though. I wiped again and still no luck.

"'Ere." A soft fabric landed on my arm. "Use this."

I uttered a small thanks in return and dried my eyes off with the fabric. There.. Now I can see again.

Who are they?

What I saw in the room was 2 small male and female Riolu's, 3 adult Lucario's, 2 female and 1 male, and.. A Ninetails?

The female Riolu was yellow though, shiny huh?

I don't know any of them... oh wait! Wasn't I sent to the past? What's the current time?

"U-umm.." I can't just say 'what year is it?', it would only make me look crazy! But what else would I say?

"It seems like he got memory loss or somethin'." It was one of the Riolu's who said that. One of the adult Lucario's, namely the male, smacked the back of the male Riolu's head.

"Now don't be so rude to our guest!"

The small Riolu uttered a small apology and then ran to my bedside. "We heard ya howl!" He looks and sounds pretty excited. "We thought you were in trouble so we went 'ta ingestibate."

The shiny female Riolu looked irritated at the other. "It's investigate, idiot."

The male Riolu stuck his tongue out. "You're the idiot!"

Now THAT made the other Riolu angry.

"That doesn't make sense!"

"YOU don't make sense!"

"How do I make no sense?"

"You just do!"

"Alright! That's it!"

The male Lucario walked between them. "Okay, that's enough! If you two don't behave, then I think you'd rather do homework than to stay here!" The two youngsters immediately quelled their fighting.

"Now that's more like it, don't be fighting with your sister, Alain! She's a lot stronger than you are and you know that." The female was laughing at the poor fighting type that got scolded.

"The same goes for you too, Sheila!" The female stopped her laughing and crossed her arms while going 'Hmph!'. The brother laughed a bit at her expense.

The male Lucario sighed. "Ayayay, sometimes you two are such a handful."

The one called Alain grabbed my arm. "Oi! We found these beside you while you were sleeping in that weird machine-thingy!" He pointed his free paw over at the table beside me. My things?

There they were. The letter, the scarf, the clip. Everything was here. Good...

"An' we thought the papers in your hands were very important so we put it all in th' engelopt." The female Riolu, Sheila, just sighed as she didn't bother to correct him. "An' I swear I didn't look in them! I swear!"

This time it was Sheila who spoke up. "We tried pressing the button on that pin-looking thing there, but nothing happened, is it broken?"

No it wasn't, since it can only activate with me and no one else.

Sheila then looked at me with pity when I didn't answer her back. "Can you not speak?"

"I-it's not. Like that." My voice was raspy, my yell from earlier was pretty sudden. I coughed a couple of times to clear my throat. "W-where am I?"

The male Lucario spoke up. "You're in our stronghold, Arthur." I flinched. How does he know my name?

Alain looked troubled. "I-I mean.. I only saw your name. That's it, I swear!"

Oh, so that's why. Whew.. It would be troublesome if they found out my real identity RIGHT off the bat for some reason inside the letters. My heart slowed down to normal again in my reassurance.

I turned my head to where my things were. I reached out for the letter in particular and held it in my clenched paws.

"…"

Teardrops?

The little Riolu's both tensed up. "I'm sorry mister! I-I didn't mean to! I swear it! Just don't cry!"

I could only stare at the names printed on the envelope.

Mr. Big...

O'Neill...

Sophia...

Mother...

It was like a broken floodgate, my tears ran down my face the more I think about them. I didn't sob. It was a silent cry. I feel like if I cried out loud I wouldn't want to stop.

But I kept crying to myself.

No one interfered with me for a while, not even the kids.

Suddenly, something soft lifted my head. "Don't let such a handsome face be tainted with tears, boy."

What, the Ninetails? What is she doing?

"If you don't calm down, then I'll have to make you." Her eyes took on a stunning shine. It definitely didn't seem like hypnosis, then what move is this?

...She looks so beautiful now that I look at her. Maybe she won't mind if I just, kiss her...

Wait a minute! It's attract!?

"Shush, boy. I'll make it all better.."

Why is she doing this? Why won't she just leave me alone?

Besides...

No one would want to cheer someone like ME up.. I don't deserve it...

I gently moved her tail and lowered my head, my eyes focused on the letter.

"What? How did you..." She sounds astounded, but that wasn't my problem. No. My problem was that I'm alone. With no family to look to.

"Well, it seems like the real deal. You're heartbroken, are you?" Her voice seems to naturally hold a seductive tone to it no matter what context it's in. I've never met anyone like this before in my life.

I didn't want to pay attention to her, but her voice seemed to cut right through my thoughts. "Whoever this girl thinks she is, she's not going to get away with it! Who broke your heart, honey? I'll have to pay her a visit for staining a beautiful face such as yours."

I couldn't block her out no matter how hard I tried, maybe it's impossible to block others out for me? I've always wanted to HEAR them out instead, perhaps it's a habit that's not going to go away anytime soon.

I was suddenly surrounded in a bunch of her tails, and it forced me together with the Ninetails. "If I can't take your mind off of the sadness, then I guess you'll have to force all of the sadness out. Go on. Cry all you want now..." Her voice sounded so reassuring to me, so calm.

I didn't hesitate to give it my all, I swear I must've sounded like a toddler who lost his parents. I mean, I really did lose something so important to me, my mind can't take it...

So that's how it was, a kid in the grace of a foreign mother.

I cried my lungs out for about an hour or something, it's hard to keep track when you have no idea what the time really was. I may have been teleported to a whole new world with different properties or something. I don't know.

I started calming down, the patient Ninetails accompanied me the whole time and was still standing strong. I didn't know what to think of my situation. I think I embarrassed myself quite a bit, but I don't really care.

Once I came to I noticed that all the older Lucario's were gone, only the two Riolu's stayed along with me and the Ninetails. "Did you calm down now?"

I nodded slowly, she released the grip of her tails on me. It was like she was used to this sort of thing, as if she had her own kids.

"I'm actually a doctor. I have no actual kids if that's what you're thinking."

How did she know? Oh well, she may as well be a psychiatrist, or just a really good guesser...

There's no way to get to the future again, at least a future where there isn't a natural disaster occurrence like mine. I'll have to face those facts, whether I like it or not. It's about my own survival now..

One of the Riolu's, the male one named Alain, came up to me. "I-is it alright if I call you Arthur?" He seems more timid now than the rash kid he was before, I must've scared the crap out of him with that sudden outburst.

I smiled to him. "Of course you can, what else would you call me?" The kid stayed there stunned, I turn to see the female Riolu named Sheila, she was stunned as well. What?

"I knew you would have an amazing smile!" The yet-to-be-named Ninetails grabbed me with her tails once again, but this time it was a bone-crushing hug. "That gloomy face doesn't suit you, you know?"

Alain squeaked. "Are you like, a male model or somethin'?"

Huh? What are they talking about? It's just a smile..

Now that I mention it, I usually never smile back at home. It was only with my mother and the rest that I would ever crack a smile. I never left my work and socialized with anyone else, I was always so busy.

The Ninetails released her grip on me. Again. "My names Pearl, as in the jewel. I already know your name though."

Alain looked down, most likely on himself.

Pearl hopped off the bed. When did she get on? "I guess it's time I make my leave. Patients to see, reckless pokemon to heal." She said as she left the room.

The face of the Riolu seemed to have reached back to a high point.

"Oh! I could get you a glass of water! You must be really thirsty, here, let me get you one!" And like that he took off in a rush.

Sheila got up and went after him. "You can't even reach the shelf! You might fall down and get yourself hurt again!" She shut the door behind herself carefully as she left.

And then there was one.

I look over at the table on my side and notice that the letter has some teardrop stains on it. I leaned over to pick it up and gently dab it clean with the rag that I still have. I don't want this to get ruined or destroyed before I read it.

I put the envelope back on the table and grabbed the clip on my way back up. This clip can store any amount of things in one space, I can call them out by thinking about it and pressing the button at the same time. Technically it's connected to my subconscious so I can see what's all in there when I wear it.

It's weird. We can develop something like this when we can't even fix our garbage problem, talk about strange.

The development of artificial life was banned so we couldn't even send out drones to handle the mess. It was also because the metal would eventually break down from all the acidic 'things' it would have to collect. The cost for acid protection would only leave our facility bankrupt before we could even begin with the cleanup for a small area.

I picked up the scarf with my free paw. She made this for me huh? She said it wasn't well made, but it looks pretty good. I see no mistakes in the braiding, this will last a long time for sure. Hopefully.

I threw on the scarf and spun it a couple of times around my neck, it wasn't too thick nor was it too thin, it sat snugly around my neck. I took the clip and attached it somewhere hidden in my scarf, it will be useful in case I need to get something while I'm 'scratching my neck' from my itchy scarf. The clip immediately connected to my brain.

Wow. I didn't think they would have EVERYTHING in here... well, I guess I'm pretty packed with gadgets and rations for now.

I grabbed the envelope. "I'll read them when I feel comfortable." I say out loud. Then the envelope vanished into the clip when I touched the button, this will be really useful in almost any situation. It's better than lodging everything around with me..

Okay! I'm all set!

Alright..

What do I do now?

* * *

Ok! I'm having a problem deciding if I should have any shippings with Arthur... I originally decided that it would be a somewhat short story, but I sort of thought about newer and cool things to add to this story. I thought that shipping a character in a short story would leave the content rushed and awkward with the flow of everything.

The Ninetails isn't what I had in mind though, she was originally a character who would support Arthur through his angst and that was it. Maybe even have her become a more important character halfway through. The possibility of having a shipping or two IS here though. I just don't know if I should do that or continue with the story as is without shipping, like I had originally thought about doing.

I don't do lemons though, so if anything it would be an innocent relationship...

So! Until we meet again! 4467 w/o AN's


	4. Lay Lie Backwards

hi! Today's Christmas! Here's my present from me to you. A more uplifting sort of chapter here. I just hope that it's not too boring for you guys so far, it's just that I like to include details to my stories that make it more 'life like', y'know what I mean?

I will definitely include some action in a bit, at least until I'm pleased with what I got down.

Well, good luck then! And happy holidays!

* * *

I finally decided that I should leave this place. I don't know any specifics on where I should go, but it's better than sitting down and doing nothing. In fact, I still don't know where I am at the moment...

Maybe I should find a landmark or something? It's better than having no plan at all. When I do, I'll decide from there where I would go... live? Now that I mention it. What am I going to do with my life now? I already cried my eye sockets out over a huge loss, and now what else? Just live?

No.

I just simply can't do something that innocent, it would feel too weird for me. It would also question if my true happiness came from before or after I lost my family. In fact, I'd rather be happy back then than right now, so I could preserve my memories for them.

But, is that as wrong as it sounds?

I feel somehow empty inside. It's like no matter what I choose I will always end up having no family. I don't like it one bit, but it is how it is. I'm officially finished with being hurt and crying and tears and being at a loss, or in my case, losses.

But it isn't that simple, is it?

Okay then, now I'm just running in circles here. What can I do? What is it that only 'I' can do at a time like this? I'm pretty textbook smart, but I'm in no way a 'social' kind of pokemon, I don't even know how to make friends...

I can always.. No, I can't just do THAT.

Hmmm...

Maybe I can... no. I just don't have enough information on my current location, so I can't wander around until I find something I can recognize... I could potentially get lost.

The only way to get information is to get off of my hindquarters and search for it I guess. I spent enough time in here to recite everything in my poem book twice..

"Wait!" I say aloud. How could I forget about that?

I closed my eyes and held the clip that was in my scarf with my paws. The clip processed the image of everything that was in the space purely through my thoughts. In it I saw the many gadgets and foods that was stuffed in there, I skimmed through the whole deal until I saw it, my poem notebook.

The book materialized when I pressed the button and it landed in my paw. I held it close to my heart for a couple of seconds.

Sophia gave me this book as her very first gift for me on my 6th birthday. I told her that I was very interested in poem writing and she gave me this pocket notebook. She didn't know when my birthday was at the time so it was given to me as a late present.

I opened the book to it's first page, it had my very first poem I wrote. I decided to look at what I wrote down back then:

Page 1. My first Poem!

This is the very first page!

RageCandyBars are all the rage!

I get sick when I eat too much!

But don't worry because I can have more for lunch!

My best friend's name is Sophia!

She can dance beautifully like a ballerina!

My mom and I like to relax and watch the stars!

But every time I jumped at them I wouldn't get very far!

I can recite Pi at up to 16 decimals!

But without my regulator my control is abysmal!

It ends there. I sweatdropped at the amount of exclamation marks I used at the time, I really went ham with that particular punctuation didn't I? But still, I was so young back then, there was so many things that I didn't know about the world that I do now... Well, at least in the future, technically.

I pretty much wrote it in the first day and second I got the notebook, so it isn't all that good content-wise. It was only until later on in the pages that I got the hang of poetry. Anyways, I'm so glad they packed it, it really relieves me...

"Hey! Don't go spilling it! Slow down!" I heard the voice and the pitter-patter of feet coming from the other side of the only door in the room, it must be the two little Riolu's. I put the notebook back in the clip and waited for them to come in.

The door flung wide open as the notebook dematerialized just in time. "I got your water! I didn't spill any, I swear!" Alain, the male Riolu, spoke in rapid breaths. He must've ran the whole way it seems. His sister Sheila, the slightly older and shinier female, came in through the door shortly after. She didn't seem so out of shape as her brother was though.

Alain handed me a half-filled glass cup that clearly looks like it used to have more in it, the bottom of the glass was soaked. I chugged down the rest of what was left. I instantly found out that I was really thirsty! I guess I wasn't really keeping track of my diet and intake of water, because of previous.. 'Distractions'.

The male Riolu hopped in place right beside me. "My dad told me to look after you while he was at work." Alain then looked at his sister in an irritated fashion. "An' he said that I don't need any help from my sister at all, an' that I should be the only one to babysit him."

Sheila huffed. "He didn't say that! I was there when he spoke to us and left. Don't go lying about everything so you could have your way."

She walked over to me and hugged my arm tightly. "He said that we should both show him around our house so he could get comfortable. He said that he could stay here until he got better again."

Suddenly, Alain was at my other side and snatched my arm into a strong grip. "I'm not lying! I'M gonna be the one to show him around!" He pulled my arm to his side, moving my upper body like a ragdoll. I had to catch my balance so I didn't topple over and crush the small Riolu.

Sheila tugged her side harder as if it was a tug-of-war. "I didn't say you WEREN'T going to do that!"

"But I wanna do it myself!"

They swung me back.

"You can't even read yet, what if you lead him to the girls bathroom by accident? You did it before and you cried saying there was no urinals in there!"

And forth.

"I didn't cry! An' why are you diggin' up the past again!? That has nothing to do with now! I know the difference even more now!"

And back.

"What I'm saying is that you're not capable of doing this by yourself!"

And then forth.

"I CAN SO do this on my own!"

Back..

"No you can't!"

Forth...

"Yeah I ca-" "ENOUGH!"

I couldn't take it anymore with their selfish attitudes! Their constant bickering got under my skin the moment they open their mouths!

The two quieted down, finally, it was never like this between Sophia and I.

And thus, I went into lecture mode. "What's the point of fighting over every little detail? There's no way to satisfy everyone, it's impossible. There will always be a conflict of beliefs, but if you let your beliefs get in the way of your relationships then you'll never be happy." I wasn't yelling at all, but it still had a heavy tone to it, I made sure to.

The two lowered their heads in shame. They have to learn their lesson through some harsh teachings sometimes, that's the only way they'll learn. If you're too gentle with them all the time then they may become too emotionally attached with each word they say, or become troubled with everything around them.

Like me...

If anything, I would like them to grow stronger than me, to lessen the devastation they take in the future. Even though I don't know them, I feel like it's my duty to do so. Perhaps it's just to fulfill my own selfish desire, or maybe I just want to help them out with their struggles. Either way, they need someone to teach them about the world.

Like how the institute taught me.

I gave my voice a gentle ring. "Why not just treat each other with respect? It's definitely way more fun that way, I swear it on my soul." I laid my paws on each of their heads to reassure them, their spirits seemed to re-Kindle on their faces. Seeing their attitudes u-turn made me smirk.

Alain grew a small smile. "Do you swear on your mother's grave?"

I inwardly flinched. I did my best so my facial features didn't change, though my smile did lessen a bit.

"Y-yeah, on my mother's grave I swear I'm not wrong."

Sheila tugged lightly on my arm. "Then let's get you settled in. Your room is over this way."

Alain held on to my paws with his own, Sheila did the same. Then Alain walked ahead of me. "Oh yeah! Didn't mom say that he could have THAT room?" Sheila just nodded at him and led me out of the room.

Just where am I going to stay for now? They seem to have a room in mind...

In only just a couple of rooms away was my room apparently. It was a simple room with little to no furniture, there was a descending ceiling that was supposed to be where the stairs were, and the room wasn't all that big. It was better than a small cubby-hole of a living space, I suppose.

The only problem I had with it besides the size was the descending ceiling... it was right on top and close to the head of the bed, meaning that if I don't remember the small roof, I'll be kissing that ceiling every morning.

Gee. I'm SO looking forward to THAT...

I guess I'll learn my lesson after a while, and besides, I don't know how long I'll be staying here so it probably won't matter.

Alain jumped on the bed in one swift motion. "And this is where you'll be sleeping at night." He was pretty small so he was far from jumping into the ceiling. ME on the other hand is another story.

Sheila just stood outside of the door. "We're not done with the tour yet, so no resting."

We followed behind her so I could see the remaining parts of the house...

"Okay! So we did the bathroom, the bedrooms, upstairs, downstairs, and... I think that's it." Sheila said as she gave me the rundown.

This house is pretty interesting. From what I could tell their mother worked in an office and their father worked at a school. Alain told me their workplaces weren't very far from here and that they were in the same building, in fact they were in the same area as this house, supposedly.

I didn't know the specifics of their jobs just by looking at their rooms, I wasn't able to dig around to decipher out the details, that'd be rude of course.

Alain held up a paw. "Oh! We forgot the most important place!"

Sheila's stance shifted straight up. "Oh, that's right, I forgot about that."

They both led me by the hand to the back of the house. We stopped at a wooden door, then they wordlessly stood by it and gestured their arms towards the door. They didn't say anything about what was on the other side of the door which was weird in of itself, they'd explain everything to the ground by now.

It seems that they want me to open the door by myself.

What is it that made them silent? Is whatever behind the door something they can't say? It made me more curious the more I thought about it. I reached out my paw and opened the door slowly. What I saw was amazing... And shocking!

Cinnabar Island!

And judging by the distance from here to there, I should be... in Pallet town! Hey, I didn't go very far from my original position! Is it possible that everything is in the exact same location in the past as it is from the future? That would be preferable, but everything is susceptible to change.. Even continents.

Still. It's nice seeing something like this. Cinnabar Island used to be so gloomy. Or should I say that it's about to be in a couple or more so years? It's the total opposite of what it 'used' to be though. It's gorgeous!

You can see the sparkling sea under the suns wide-covering and unexpecting gaze, the actual island is a bit foggy from here. It makes the view from this veranda look really enchanting!

If only everyone were to see this, their reactions would be so worth seeing...

"Umm, Arthur? Are you alright? You're looking weird again." Sheila's voice pierced my brain, causing me to snap out of it.

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Ah, yeah, I'm okay. Nothings wrong, I'm fine."

They seemed hesitant with me. I gave them a smile, I didn't want to dampen the mood, especially with kids like them. They took it as a 'now that's better', and we continued watching the sights silently together.

I feel like I'm going to be coming here pretty often in my free time, it's the perfect thinking spot too.

We kept watching until the sun began to set, it wasn't too high when we came out here, but it was getting late. Both Alain and Sheila yawned in unison with each other. I took that as a sign that they were done.

"Alright you guys, I guess it's time for bed."

They immediately shook their heads, both to say 'no' and to shake themselves awake. But their eyes said otherwise, they tried their best to keep them open, it was a pretty cute scene to be honest.

"If you go to bed right now you'll be able to get up that much earlier y'know?"

Their heads contemplated this thought, they both eventually agreed with me, Alain spent a longer time thinking than his sister though. Maybe these kids really DO listen to reason, that makes my life easier then.

I opened the door for them and they headed straight to bed.

I stayed behind.

I wanted to continue. I wanted to see it. The 'things' that I wanted to see since I was four. The things I only were able to see clearly when I saw them in books or by a description from my mother. The things I only was able to see clearly at that fateful night..

Will it show? Or will I wake up and realize that I'm dreaming, all because I don't really know what they look like at all. What if I can't imagine them whatsoever? Really. Just thinking about it makes me feel so melancholy, but for a different reason.

So I waited.

With the perseverance like that of a knight watching and protecting his king day and night.

Patiently with patience.

And I was rewarded. The sun went completely down, the night sky began to blanket over the horizon, and there I saw it. The first shining star of the night. The evening star, also known as Venus. It's not really a star as much as it is a planet, but it is awesome to see it in person nonetheless!

After that, the show began.

Star after star began appearing until it became countless. Eventually the whole world was swallowed by sparkles. It was even more beautiful than I anticipated, truly a sight to behold. Looking at it made me relaxed and excited at the same time. In fact, I could stay here all night and I still wouldn't get enough of it. This is all that I hoped for and more.

If I could, I would lay down and watch from the ground, everything was vastly visible anyways, not like before when I had to get on a big object and squint to see past the 'poison clouds' that made the stars hardly visible. This was clearly what I was born to do, I could feel it in my.. everywhere!

My body shivered. Not from the nightly cold air and winds, but from the sudden thought of that everything was really alright for me, the sense of burden have been lifted from my shoulders. Did seeing the stars start cleansing my soul?

I started tearing up. Not from sadness, but from...

Happiness.

I couldn't stop it, not that I tried to anyways. It just felt right for me. Crying. But for another purpose that's different from sadness. This is something I could get used to. Something that I can get comfortable with.

And so, this marks off another thing from my list.

"The stars are THAT beautiful to you?" A voice cut through my back. It didn't surprise me though, my aura somehow activated by itself for some reason. It felt strong. I mean, it was always strong, but this is a more 'I can control it on my own' kind of strong.

I turn around and found it to be one of the adult Lucario's, this one was the female that was in the back.

I decided to reply to her, she was my host after all. "Yeah..." That was all I said, however, it was all I needed to say.

"You DO realize you're crying at stars, right?" She deadpanned. I didn't heed her words. I don't even feel irritated one bit by it either.

"Did they do something to you? Like hurt you or anything?"

Those didn't sound like genuine questions. They were more like, I don't know, as if she was sarcastic and not at the same time.

She obviously doesn't understand me, or even seems like she wants to. I turned my attention back to the sky above.

"Did you know that 'the Morning Star' and ' the Evening Star' are actually one planet, Venus, not really stars like the name suggests?"

She didn't say anything. Instead she just stood there. I can tell from my 'aura feel' that she's uncomfortable.

I turn back to her again, but this time I smiled my most genuine smile.

"I love the stars."

Her uncomfortable aura faded immediately and another aura took it's place. Was it, Infatuation? I never really paid any attention to aura's like that, so maybe I'm wrong.

I've never used this ability before, it was too hard to maintain and handle, but I'm doing it like how an expert would. How did this happen? Do the stars give me power or something?

"U-um, your name is Arthur, right?"

The aura molded into one of embarrassment.

"W-what's your full name?"

What happened to that deadpan attitude from earlier?

Wait. My full name? Should I tell her my full name? I don't think it's a good idea to give her my real surname, what if I ran into my family members from the past? They wouldn't recognize an 'Arthur Verne' in their family, technically I'm not supposed to exist in this reality.

I want it to strike a resemblance to the original name though, something like Vernet? Wait no, that kinda sounds feminine.. Verny? Naw, too 'unorganized' sounding. Hmmm... how about Vero? Vero, Veeroh. Vero. Hey, that actually sounds decently pleasant! I'll go with that then.

"Arthur Vero." I replied to her.

Her aura turned into a light ray of happiness.

"Ah, okay then..."

Then reverted back to awkwardness.

I laughed happily. "Is that a new way to introduce yourself in today's standards?" Her face turned pink and so did her aura, back to embarrassment again?

"O-ah! Yeah, I meant to introduce myself." She coughed into her closed paw, most likely to ease her tension, she's surprisingly pretty easy to read. "My name is Sky."

As in the sky, sky?

Now I was interested in hearing her full name. "Your last name?" I asked her out of curiosity.

Sky perked up. "O-oh yeah, it's Verne, Sky Verne."

Uhhh...

What!? My relative!?

* * *

Ok! Now I know what you're thinking, 'Ew! Is he really going to have incest in this story?'. Then no, that's not where I'm getting at. This is the sort of 'life like' thing that I want in my stories. Not everyone is perfect and will know what what the hell is going on 24/7. The 'love at first sight' using Arthur's relative is the kind of thing I'm going with.

What I mean is that it's going to bring more options for me in the future of this story, to bring out the characters in a weird and different manner. What I hope for is a good way to set the stage for some drama in case I want to spice it up, if you know what I mean. And no, not in the way of the 'wincest'.

Ok, it sort of got weird for a second there. Well, until we meet again. 3697 words w/o AN's


End file.
